Institute of Archaeology

Qadisha Valley Project, Lebanon

Hunter-gatherer adaptations in a forest refugium

The Levant is an area of considerable environmental
diversity, ranging from the thickly forested coastal mountains in the
north-west, to the dry steppe and deserts of the south-east. Our knowledge of the
Epipalaeolithic hunter-gatherer communities which inhabited the region through
the late Pleistocene (24-12,000 cal BP) and of the development and spread of
Neolithic farming communities during the early Holocene (12-7,500 BP) is
heavily biased to regions which were either park woodland or steppic habitats
through these periods. The Qadisha Valley Project was initiated to examine
adaptations to an area which is thought to have served as a forest refugium.
The valley drains the highest sector of the Lebanese Mountains to the
south-east of Tripoli. These rise to over 3,000 m within 30 km of the sea.

The project was begun in 2003, with a geomorphological
and archaeological survey of the valley, and was followed by three seasons of
excavation at two adjacent caves at Moghr el Ahwal, which lies at about 620 m.

During 2004, excavations were undertaken in Cave 2 revealing three phases of
prehistoric occupation. The earliest Geometric Kebaran (14,900 BP) included a
partial human burial with grave goods. This was overlain by a Natufian
occupation and cutting into this was a number of shallow pits containing
disarticulated human remains, dating to the late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (9,700
BP). An analysis of the faunal remains identified over 35 species, dominated
by wild goat and forest species including roe and fallow deer and wild pig.

During 2005 and 2008, excavations were undertaken in the adjacent Cave 3, also
revealing three well preserved phases of prehistoric occupation. These were
Kebaran (19,000-20,200 BP), Geometric Kebaran (16,100 BP) and Natufian (14,100
BP). The analysis of material from these phases is still continuing.

The field research at Moghr el Ahwal, has
provided valuable insights into hunter-gatherer adaptations to an area which is
thought to have served as a forest refugium throughout the late Pleistocene and
early Holocene. There are similarities in material culture to the Galilee and
Mount Carmel areas in the southern Levant, but with a much stronger focus on
the use of forest resources.